Historic Kona Coffee Farm Faces $10 Million Loss After Devastating Storm

Greenwell Farms, one of South Kona's most storied coffee operations at 176 years old, may never fully recover from the Kona low storm that tore through Hawaiʻi Island on March 14, carving three trenches through one of its three farm locations, wiping out decades-old coffee trees, and leaving owner Tom Greenwell's home caked in silt and unlivable.

Greenwell estimates the storm caused roughly $10 million in combined damage and lost revenue, with an additional $1 million in personal damages to his home alone. "I think we're going to lose half our crop," he said.

The physical destruction spans the entire length of the farm's production chain. Floodwaters not only ripped through mature trees that took decades to establish but also destroyed approximately 24,000 young plants in the nursery. "That's our future planting that is gone and trees that I grow and give to farmers to grow," Greenwell said. The storm also cut off the farm's water supply, and Greenwell said his team's first priority is making the property safe.

Images from the farm's driveway captured the scale of the damage: exposed roots of a large monkey pod tree, broken asphalt, and cracked earth carved open by floodwaters. Water flowed under and into Greenwell's on-site home, saturating the structure with silt. "We're just taking everything off the floor right now," he said.

The Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense Agency visited the property on March 19 to assess damage to the farm and to the retail location off Māmalahoa Highway in Kealakekua, where Greenwell Farms offers tours and coffee samples to visitors.

Greenwell's neighbors felt the storm's force as well. Randy Morris, whose home sits on Pu'u Pueo Road just north of Kona Community Hospital, received a flash flood emergency alert the night of the storm and evacuated his family of five and three dogs after at least a foot of water pooled in his carport. "A wall of water was just coming down the hill," Morris said, adding that Tom Greenwell bore the worse of it. In the Ka'ū District, Highway 11 in Waiʻōhinu, about two miles north of Nā'ālehu, functioned as a raging river. "This was the worst storm in my entire life," said resident Christine Inserra. "It was slow-moving and relentless." County crews worked across every district on the island clearing fallen trees and boulders from roads, with Ka'ū among the hardest-hit areas.

The losses at Greenwell Farms fit into a broader agricultural crisis across the state. Early estimates point to more than $7 million in agricultural losses statewide and over 1,000 acres of farmland impacted, a figure that reflects the storm's reach beyond any single operation.

The Hawaiʻi Agricultural Foundation and the Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau Federation are encouraging donations to support the agricultural community's recovery. Greenwell Farms can also be supported directly by purchasing coffee through the farm's online store.